Abstract
The article analyses how historical memory is being formed in the modern digital realm. The authors show the emergence of a new form of historical memory, characteristic of the digital era, which we call "media memory". Using the methodology historical epistemology, media philosophy and memory studies, the authors demonstrate the change in production and replication of knowledge about the past due to the spread of digital media. The distinctive features of "media memory" are: massive non-professional production of historical content, democratic character, speed, subjectivity and emotional intensity. These features are associated with the combination of prosuming and crowdsourcing, which increase the activity of history lovers and non-professional volunteers in social media. Considering the largest historical digital projects, which have brought together the efforts of millions of history lovers, the article comes to the conclusion that academic historians are losing the monopoly on the production of historical knowledge, while the latter is being turned into digital form, with the widespread participation of ordinary people in the production of such content.
Highlights
Digital media radically transform the social construction of historical memory
The massive spread of Internet technology has led to the emergence of media memory, a new digital form of historical memory
The peculiarity of media memory is the loss of monopoly on the production of historical knowledge by academic historians, turning of historical knowledge into digital form and the widespread participation of users in the creation of such content
Summary
Digital media radically transform the social construction of historical memory. Archives and libraries are no longer exclusive institutions for the storage of historical memory, they are giving way to electronic databases. The memory of written culture is losing its ground to electronic memory, which is accessible to narrow groups of professionals, and to the large groups of Internet users. The latter are actively involved in the process of creating ideas about the past, which was previously managed by professional historians. The digital revolution has transformed the forms and methods of media communication, giving them a mnemonic function.
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